Michael is an independent general management consultant based in Brisbane, Australia. A former McKinsey consultant, he serves executive clients across Australasia on strategy, organisation and performance improvement. He founded Hollewand Consulting Associates Pty Ltd in 2013.
Following 5 years at McKinsey & Company in the UK, Michael held a range of senior leadership positions at BG Group, an international energy company, based in the UK (subsequently acquired by Shell in 2016).
Joining BG Group initially as Chief Strategist in 2003, he made significant contributions to the Group’s growth and LNG strategies advising the CEO, Board and Executive team during a period where market capitalisation grew from c. $20bn to $80bn. Other roles included oversight of energy markets and downstream businesses, strategic planning, economics and mergers and acquisitions.
In 2007 Michael was appointed to lead a company-wide transformation program reporting to the CEO. Over four years the program developed a consistent operating model for business delivery across the international portfolio (the “BG Way”). As part of the role, Michael designed and facilitated implementation of organisation changes to several global functions and business units to achieve strategic goals and drive company performance.
In 2010 he was assigned to QGC in Australia to support the delivery of the $20+bn QCLNG project. He served on the management team until 2013 and lead organisation change, capability development and cost reduction initiatives. He reported on the lessons learned from the project to the Board of Directors in 2013.
Prior to BG Group, Michael worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company based in London, serving clients in the energy, industrial and pharmaceutical sectors. Prior to McKinsey, Michael held operational and technical roles in the oil and gas and pharmaceuticals industries.
He has developed deep expertise throughout his career in strategy, organisation development, capital productivity and operational performance improvement focused on the oil and gas sector, and has been an invited public speaker on industry productivity and project performance.
Michael holds a degree in chemical and materials engineering from Auckland University, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Commonwealth Scholar and Oppenheimer Research Fellow.
In 2014 he was appointed an Adjunct Professor in the UQ Business School at the University of Queensland, where he provides part-time support to the MBA and Executive Education programs teaching integrated strategy and operations design (profile on UQ website).
